is baptized c. But he that believeth not c. And Eph. 5.26 That he might sanctifie it and cleanse it by water through the word 2. The Sacraments as instruments put forth a spirituall efficacie when they are lawfully used according to God but not when they are abused in an unlawfull manner and unworthily received then they doe not put forth any spirituall efficacie Thus the Supper of the Lord puts forth spirituall efficacie when it is ordered in a lawfull manner as the Apostle saith Is is not the communion of the body of Christ And the Cup of blessing is the same and yet be that receives is 〈◊〉 â—â—rthily eates and drinkes his own damnation and makes himselfe guilty of the body and blood of Christ because he abuses the seale He that abuses the Kings seale is punished and therefore much more these The Gospel is the power of God to salvation but it must bee mixed with faith and then it is the savour of life unto life but without it is the savour of death unto death And so is the Sacrament therfore when a thing is lawfully done it is no sinne but if it be abused then it is sinfull therefore that the Sacrament is abused it is from sinne but the spirituall work of a Sacrament helps forward to salvation 3 The spirituall efficacy a Sacrament puts forth is not as a Physicall instrument but as a Morall I put it in these termes that I might cleare it up in their termes which they use which darken the truth Now see the explication Instruments are of a double nature some have qualities inherent that is sticking in them by nature as some physicall hearbs are of a purging nature others comfortable they have it in their nature put into them so to work and it abides in them but other are made serviceable by Art they are made sharp or sweet Or in tooles some are made sharp fit for use as a bone wil not cut our bread but we must have something made sharp so things are made physicall either by Nature or by Art The Papists call it Physicall in the Sacrament they say the Sacraments work naturally if taken they have a quality to convey grace the Sacrament taken they say will worke of it selfe but it is a grosse conceit to satisfie a carnall heart then a drunken wretch must have grace if he can but have the use of the Sacrament Thus the Papists derogate from Christ by making a quality to be inherent in the Sacraments to convey grace into any man that receives them The 2d distinction is they are morally good as some instruments that have no power of themselves but as they are stated by way of ordination as he that uses them doth appoint them As a piece of wax is appointed to seale up a bargain the Wax conveys nothing it is appointed to be a witnesse to set forth the truth as the party is ingaged according to agreement as Elijahs Cloke divided the waters it was not in the Cloke but it was a signe to intimate that God would be with him So the Brasen Serpent was appointed of God for the people that were stung by looking on it they should be healed there was no vertue in the brasse to heale them for afterwards in Heâ—â—ekiahs dayes he called it Nehushtan a piece of brasse But by Gods institution God used it as a meanes to work by but the vertue was in himselfe there was no inherent vertue in the brasse but God appointed it for this end as a morall instrument 4 When the Sacraments are thus taken for such an end and to such a work there is a divine vertue goes along with them for that end the same power that did appoint them will goe along with them and will work in them for that end There be three things in the institution of them 1 God appointing them out according to his will in wisdome and power the bread signifying the body of Christ as meat the water signifying the blood of Christ washing a way the guilt and filth of our sins the wisdome and good pleasure of God going along with them for that end 2 They are seales of Gods ingagement to man that is signified by these his Faithfulnesse and Truth alwayes goe with it Rom. 4. It is called The Seale of the Righteousnesse of Faith So as it is as sure as that 3 There is the accomplishment and performance thereof here shall we find the good Spirit of God going along with this ordinance to see it done Matth. 3 11. He shall baptize you with the holy Ghost c. And Rom. 2.29 That is Circumcision that is of the heart c. So as the Sacrament is stated for that use it hath alway this the good Spirit of God going along with it carrying it to the understanding it signifies all spirituall good to the understanding to a man that worthily receives it it carries it sacramentally So as it is plain no man can institute a Sacrament to have the good of it as the Seale the Spirit of God must make good Gods engagement so as the heart cannot get away from the goodnesse 3 The Sacrament exhibits grace so the Spirit of God go along with it and see it accomplished thus theirs is the same with ours for theirs and ours comunicate the vertue of it by the Spirit of God And hence it followes that it is of force as under the motion of that blessed Spirit so that there is no more of the Bread nor of the Wine that have this fruit but so much as is used to this end And as the Brazen Serpent was not of that use to heale but at that time the Lord had set it apart for that use and therefore afterwards it was called Nehushtan Hence followes a threefold collection 1 Hence this will bee a meanes to â—â—se and help you to see how the Spirit can work in Baptisme The main worker is the Spirit all is possible to him he can secretly doe it to a childe he is not confin'd to our work he can overshadow the heart of a Child as he did the Virgin 2 In the manner of the working in which we may see foure thing for our help 1 The Sacrament of Baptisme is a seale of our first entrance and the Supper is our nourishing in the family of Christ And this being the scope of Baptisme sealing our first work into Christ that whereby we are implanted into Christ in which work we are meetly passive but when wee are setled on Christ the truth is this wee have a gracious principle put into us and so we work by our selves and by the help of the Spirit but at the first the Spirit makes us willing that we may will it This is the confession of all our orthodox Divines 2 In this first grace wherein we are passive God works in us without us all the workes we are passive in 3 Hence we may see the Spirit may as well seale
this but if the receiver hinder and stop the benefit it is his fault the sacrament is the same for Children wee must look at them as God allows us and then they were within the covenant for none could say the contrary if there be any inconveniency against Baptisme in this I say if they had it according to their own desire to men of years I will say as much for children as they for them it is a seal of remission of sins suppose hypocrites offer themselves to it as Symâ—n Magus did how did it seale up him when he was still in the gaâ—le of bitternesse so as there is the same inconveniency in men professing faith if we say therefore baptisme is not a seal of our incision it is blasphemy if we look at baptism as from God it intends it the unworthines of it doth hinder but God intends it As the Gospel it is the favour of life unto life if it be worthily received but if it be abused then it is the savour of death unto death If men creep into the Church that are unworthy and hinder the benefit yet it hinders not the seal As the Charter of a City is all that serve out their years and sue out their libertie shall be made free a man comes out of his time and gets out this freedome if after the Master come in and shew how he dealt basely with him in his service and he forfeit all his freedome will you say such a Cities Charter is broken No but his bare carriage was the cause so the ordinance of God is the same and is not to be blamed although the receiver be unworthy So in the Supper of the Lord He that receives it unworthily eates and drinks his own damnation and is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord and it is sealed up to him and yet the fault is not in the Seale 2. Conclusion is this being in the covenant of grace is to be judged according to rationall charity and accordingly it is to be discerned and determined according to the rule of rationall charity and this liberty God hath deligated to the Church for the dispensation of it God gave it to the father of the family in the wildernesse in the time of the New Testament it is given to the Ministers the seale is outward because it is impossible for man to search into the heart and to discover it really it is the Prerogative of God to search the heart Jer. 17.10 The heart is deceitfull above measure who can know it I the Lord search the heart c. God knows the heart many a man judges highly of the things that are naught God hath commended these to his Church and it is impossible to search the heart to finde out a close hypocrite God allows his Church to go to rationall charity to the rule of reason and love by the bounds of love inlightned by the rule of reason and Religion and according to the rule the Church may judge men thus John took a taste of the men that came to him in Jordan by confessing their sins thus we must proceed according to the bounds of love enlightned by Religion and rationall charity 3. This judgement according to the rules of rationall charity is lyable to mistakes Paul was long with Demas and Peter was mistaken by Symon Magus and it is said they went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us c. a man may deceive himself Galas 6.3 If a man think he is somewhat c. yet the Church is bound to go according to Religion we must judge and may pâ—â—â—tice without sin when we are mistaken because it is our ruâ—â— if subtiltie of heart go beyond us it is not the Churches fault God doth require it if he deceive himself and me in the judgement of charity and verity charity may be out-bid therefore covenant grace is one thing and saving grace is another according to the eye of man and the Church such a man is fit Now federall grace is such as all false hypocrites have federall grace they have enough to shew and may receive the seals Now it is possible hypocrites may be in the Church that the Church are not able to condemn nay suppose there were a thousand Churches in England and they receive the best according to the rules of charity in reason there may be many hypocrites come into the Church for it is as a draw net it hath bad as well as good and it is a barn flâ—ore that hath câ—affe as well as Wheat if all were admitted there are millions of persons wee cannot say this man is one sealed for salvation and here is one sealed for perdition no man can say this child or this man shall be damned I cannot say this or that man is a reprobate if all the Churches on earth were together there are many that shall be damned yet I cannot say this man or that shall be damned 4. Conclusion this judgement of charity must proceed on divers grounds according to the divers conditions of the men we have to deale withall of necessity for instance in the Old Law no heathen might be made partaker of the priviledges Esay 56.4 Thus saith the Lord to the Eunuches that keep my Sabbaoth and take hold of my Covenant c. before wee receive him wee must heare him expresse himselfe as they did not receive him nor would not untill he exprest himself Ephes 2 12. They must renounce their Idolatry and imbrace the Law the childe of this man is made partaker of the seal I must judge him in covenant how shall I have reasonable charity here is no profession there are divers wayes of proceedings so that we must proceed upon severall grounds Hence you may observe men of years must be received by profession and confession and practice and therefore they must be divers from Children how must it be done on Children thus in reference to the covenant of their fathers from the reference the Childe hath to the covenant of the father it is made partaker of the covenant with the father and by the father God hath promised that should be a means not that the father conveyes grace to the childe that is a dream but he uses the father as a means and he will communicate himself to the childe as he sees fit here is my ground thou art a means to do good to the childe hence again observe that if according to the judgement of reasonable charity they did judge in Abrahams dayes upon the self-same ground men may and ought to judge children to have right to the covenant if they might we may our grounds are the same the covenant and seal are the same then and now this for the generall 5. Now to the speciall the subjects capable and they are men of years and children First What makes men of years capable Secondly What does make Children capable of this seal
same I proved that the possession of Christ is the stablishment of the heart in it there lies the power of the Sacrament 2. The manner of it as theirs did in the old so ours in the new it lies in three things 1. It signifies God and grace 2. it conveyes And 3. it exhibits grace the same spirituall efficacy in those in the law and of ours and of the like vertue Gen. 17. compared with Rom. 4 12 And the Father of Circumcision not unto them onely that were of the Circumcision c. it was the seale of the covenant of Faith it exhibits the meaning there in the law and so theirs and ours are alike insignifying sealing exhibiting to the party an interest in Christ as in the Law so in the Gospel Here they are alike in degree they differ but for the kinde they are the same This I proved to you I will cleare it by reason In 1 Cor. 10.1 2 3 4. I would not have you ignorant that all our fathers were under the Cloud and all passed through the Sea c. I wil shew you the scope of the Apostle His aim is to pull a way the carnall confidence which they placed in their priviledges which they thought would preserve them from plagues They could say we have Baptisme and the Supper of the Lord we eate the flesh of Christ and drink his blood and are advanced so that we shall be preserved from such plagues No saith the Apostle these will not doe it for I can shew you a people had these as well as you which were overthrowne and destroyed in the wildernesse they were as eminent as you and yet they were destroyed they had the Cloud and the Sea as well as you have Baptisme and they had Manna and the water out of the Rock as well as you have bread and wine in the Supper of the Lord yet their priviledges would not preserve them no more will yours preserve you This is the meaning of God in the words so as it is a folly for us to think if we sin as they did that we should not be plagued as they were They that are truly said to be truly baptized in the right use of their Sacraments their Sacraments are the like with ours but so they are said to be by the Spirit of God Thry were baptized are the words of the Text and therefore if we should deny it we deny the words of the Spirit of God which is blasphemy to doe The reason lies in the phrase not because the signes are the same though the same thing be signified instead of Baptisme is the Cloud and Sea the red Sea held forth the like good to them as ours to us the force is the same there is the like vertue in the one as in the other They are the flesh of Christ and drank the blood of Christ as we do The Manna and the Water out of the Rock was the same with our Supper of the Lord for the good of the Suuper is Christ he is there and our spirits feast His flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed the whole does signifie and exhibit CHRIST it is like ours the elements are not the same but there is the same spirituall food and they seale up the same Christ to them as to us Christ is presented as spirituall refreshing to them and us It is a dream of Bellarmine they were not the same with ours for though theirs were extraordinary yet that hinders not the Argument we look at it as a Sacrament not at the extraordinarinesse of it The third Argument That sense that overthrowes the sense of the Apostle that is to be rejected But to say that Israel did not enjoy the same priviledges in the kind of them is to make the sense of the Apostle void and therefore it is to be rejected The Jewes provoking God shall be punished so shall you It had been easie to have answered they are not of that excellency that ours be and therefore though theirs could not preserve them ours may But now if yee attend the mind of God it is cleare theirs are the same with outs in the kinde of them And this is the first thing that may prevent all cavils The second is from that Rom 4 11. Abraham received the signe of Circumcision as the seale of the righteousnesse of faith c. that is the righteousnesse of Christ received by faith sealed by circumcision that was the seale of the righteousnesle of faith by Gods appointment so as they have spirituall efficacy with baptisme they have the utmost power a Sacrament hath to signifie seale and exhibite the spirituall good of the covenant of Grace it is a seale God appointed and it doth exhibit When a man hath set to his Seale he stands ingaged this promise he doe accomplish Every promise a man makes if he perform it not it is because he is feeble and cannot or because he is unfaithfull and will not but these cannot befall God so there is exhibition where there is sealing if it be appointed for the same and baptisme can doe no more but signifie seale and exhibit so is circumcision a covenant of Faith so there is no gainsaying but the Argument is plain in the Text. I will make some collections 1. Hence it is plain that Abraham had was the covenant of the Gospel and Grace It is proved thus That which was the Covenant of the righteousnesss of faith is the covenant of the Gospel that this is so we may see it by the Apostle If it be of workes it is not of faith if it be of faith it is not of workes Rom. 3 But Abrahams covenant is a covenant of the righteousnesse of faith That which circumcision sealed was a covenant to Abraham to say it was a carnall covenant is grosse and to say it was not a covenant of Faith is to deny the text and dig it up by the roots So we see that it was a covenant of grace 2. The Sacraments in the old Testament require and presume and presuppose in the right use of them Faith in the receiver as being the righteousnesse of God I know not how any can deny it it is so clear theirs did require faith as well as ours doe The efficacie of a Sacrament rightly used is to seale up our salvation but abused it sealts up our condemnation The right use of it is to establish our hearts but the abuse of it doth hasten our condemnation 3. Some persons my rightly use a Sacrament with allowance from God and may receive the good thereof that have not the exercise of reason as Infants as we may see in Abrahams time And this will give an answer to all them that shall say How can infants get good by Baptisme when they have not the use of reason Abrahams children had the good of the Sacrament sealed up unto them and yet they had not the use of reason yet they had a right
to be in infants though the younger blush at it to own it but the old deny it and say they sinne by imitation and that their sin is theirs and their fall is theirs it may silence impudence it selfe 3 All the holinesse we attribute to them is not by nature we professe all born of sinfull parents and are polluted with originall sinne by nature all the holinesse we ascribe unto them is not by nature not by propagation but that which is their parents Deut. 7.6 But thou art a holy people unto thy God the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a pretious people unto himselfe above all people that are upon the earth And hence they are called the naturall branches Rom. 11.24 For if thou wast out of the Olive tree which was wild by nature and wast grafted contrary to Nature into the right Olive tree how much more shall they that are by nature be grafted in their own Olive tree So as we look at no other holinesse but what the Word sayes and hath said from the beginning in Moses time so as what he sayes is false in this kind against us 4 When he addes It is no error to say they are subjects of grace if he hold to his principles he must say so for he sayes they are saved and to say so is to say they are freed from the power and presence of sin for if they have either of both they cannot be saved but he sayes so when he sayes they are subjects of grace For if they be subjects of grace they are subjects of glory and if subjects of glory they must be subjects of grace For no unclean thing shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven He dare not deny that for if he doe be must deny that which the word doth affirm And now we have done with all his Arguments and wee see the Batteries raised against this Doctrine and by what hath been said I doubt not but understanding men in the congregation may be able to give an answer Now we come to the reasons of the point which are foure 1 That practice that is commanded in the Word is lawfull But so is baptizing of the Infants of those that are in covenant and therefore it is lawfull It is contained in the Word either inplain words or may be necessarily inferred from the words I here expresse it may be necessarily inferred to let you see that it is such a dreame to say there is nothing Scripture but that which is expressed in so many words For it may be necessarily included although not plainly expressed And that this is so we may see it in the New Testament and in the Old That it is included see Matth. 28.18 19. All power is given to me in Heaven and Earth Goe therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the Holy Ghost Goe and teach is Goe and make Disciples so is the word in all Nations Now they had Authority to plant churches and to baptize them I reason thus if Children be included in those that are to be made Disciples then they are to be made partakers of the Seales of the Covenant But Children are made partakers of the Covenant of the parents and therefore it warrants the Seale to bee given to the Child if the warrant be alike to the one as to the other then the child may be partaker of it as well as the parents if the parents be in covenant the children be in covenant and made Disciples All the difficulty lies in the second part That children are in covenant if children be in the covenant and included we will open the place in three things 1 What is meant by All Nations 2 What is meant by Teaching 3 What it is to make Disciples 1 When Christ sends them to all Nations hee doth difference the Nation of the Jewes from all other Nations for his Church was there then Psal 147.10 He hath not dealt so with every Nation neither have they knowledge of his Judgements And he saith You onely have I known of all the Nations of the world It was that unconceiveable goodnesse of God to them Deut. 4.32 33. Inquire of the dayes that are past which were before thee since the dayes that God created Man upon the earth and ash from the one end of heaven unto the other if there came to passe such a great thing as this or whether any such thing hath been heard Did ever people heare the voyce of GOD speaking out of the fire as thou hast heard So as there was never such a thing for God took them out of all Nations His Ordinances must be in this Nation all must come for any Ordinances to them Exod. 12.48 But if a stranger dwell with thee and will observe the Passeover of the Lord let him circumcise all the Males that belong unto him and thou let him come and observe it and then hee shall bee as one that is borne in the land For no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof So as none may partake untill they be in covenant And Isai 56.4.5 For thus saith the Lord unto the Eunuches that keep my Sabbaths and chuse the thing that pleaseth me and take hold of my covenant even to them will I give in my House and within my walls a name better then of sonnes and daughters I will give them an everlasting Name that shall not be put out So as we see all must take hold of the covenant those that were Jewes borne were in the covenant and must be circumcised and so all other that will become Jewes must take hold of the covenant and so be circumcised Now Christ hath all power given to him in heaven and earth now he enlarges his Kingdome and therefore he sends to all before In Judah was God known and his Name was great in Israel He hath not dealt so with any Nation Acts 10 35. But in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousnesse is accepted of him Hee doth not shut up himself to them but now he fends them to all 2 What is meant by Teaching He teaches no other thing for substance then what Moses had taught and the types held forth and the Prophets foretold Christ comming in the flesh which was fulfilled in his comming for Christ was held forth in the Gospel Law and shall be to the end of the world the manner of dispensation is altered but the substance is the same Acts 26.22 Witâ—ssing to small and great saying no other thing then those that Moses and the Prophets did â—â—y hould come to passe to wit that Christ should come So as it was foretold there and revealed here And Isa 49.6 It is a small thing that thâ—n shouldst be my servant to raise up the Tribes of Jacob and to restore the desolations of Israel I will also give thee a light to the Gentiles that thou mayst be my salvation to the end of the